As of Friday, September 14, 2012, the NJPICPA mailing address will be:

New Jersey Provider Appeals

MAXIMUS, Inc.

3750 Monroe Avenue, Suite 705

Pittsford, NY 14534

The contact phone number will be 585-348-3116

Unchanged will be: (fax) 585-869-3388

and email: njpicpa@maximus.com

Welcome to the Program for Independent Claims Payment Arbitration (PICPA) Application Website. The PICPA is a program of the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance operated under contract by MAXIMUS, Inc., a professional and technical services firm that provides support to critical federal, local, state, and foreign government initiatives. The PICPA arbitrates certain claims disputes between health care providers and payers in accordance with P.L. 2005, c. 352, the Health Claims Authorization Processing and Payment Act (HCAPPA).

Effective May 2, 2011, at 4 PM, the NJ PICPA website has been revised. If you are a registered user on this site, you will have been sent an email that explains the changes and gives you a new, temporary password. New users can start by Registering through the link on the left.

NOTICE as of March 15, 2011: All Licensed Ambulatory Surgery Centers or CMS Certified Ambulatory Surgery Center's that do not participate in Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey's network.Please be advised that MAXIMUS has received notice that Horizon has exercised its right to terminate the Settlement Agreement as of March 15, 2011. For the specifics of this order, please see order. Arbitration cases affected by this order will be processed in the order in which they were received.

Who May Apply for Arbitration Using this Site Although either a payer or a health care provider may request arbitration of disputed claims, currently this site is designed to accept applications from health care providers only. If you are a payer that would like to initiate an arbitration request, please contact MAXIMUS for instructions on how to proceed. Email njpicpa@maximus.com or call (585) 348-3116. Payers should not attempt to register on this site.

Eligibility for the PICPA The PICPA is designed to consider only a segment of claims disputes. A claim is eligible for arbitration only if:

The claim was payable by an insurance company, health service corporation, hospital service corporation, medical service corporation, health maintenance organization, prepaid prescription service organization, or its agent, including an organized delivery system (ODS) or a third party administrator (TPA), pursuant to the terms of a health benefits plan issued in this State. Disputes of claims payable by the following are not eligible for consideration by the PICPA:

A self-funded entity;

The State Health Benefits Program;

Medicare;

Medicaid (other than Medicaid managed care claims);

The Federal Employees Health Benefits Program;

A dental service corporation;

A dental plan organization (DPO);

Any carrier paying claims in accordance with personal injury protection, or bodily injury protection provisions of an automobile policy, worker's compensation policies, or similar such provisions of other liability policies;

The claim arises from health care services rendered on or after July 11, 2006;

The health care provider appealed the denied or disputed claim to the payer within 90 days of the claim payment determination by submitting the Health Care Provider Application to Appeal a Claims Determination form to access the internal claims appeal process; The payer's internal HCAPPA claim appeal process was completed, OR the payer failed to comply with the processing and review timeframes with respect to the claim, and the health care provider has documentation supporting that contention;

The amount in dispute is $1,000 or more;

When aggregating claims (for the purpose of reaching the $1,000 threshold), a health care provider aggregates claims by carrier and covered person OR by carrier and CPT code; and

The health care provider submits the application for arbitration timely1 with the appropriate fees.

1The NJ Department of Banking and Insurance has set forth the following deadlines for timely submission of applications for arbitration, and rendering of arbitration decisions:

If the claims appeals was completed, or should have been completed, on or before July 31, 2007, then the application for arbitration must be completed and fees submitted by November 30, 2007, and MAXIMUS will render a decision within 60 calendar days following receipt of application, documentation and fees.

If the claims appeals was completed, or should have been completed, on or after August 1, 2007, then the application for arbitration must be completed and fees submitted within 90 days following the date the claims appeal was completed, or should have been completed by the payer, and MAXIMUS will render a decision within 30 calendar days following receipt of application, documentation and fees.

Application Process

Through this site, health care providers may submit an Application for Arbitration online, and attach supporting documentation if the information is in an electronic format, including scanned documents. To complete an application, a health care provider must firstRegister by clicking here. (After initial registration, health care providers will receive an email or phone call with logindetails within 48 business hours. You may not login to create cases until you receive your login details from MAXIMUS.)

The following documentation should be submitted with your application:

All information related to your internal claims appeal, including a copy of the Health Care Provider Application to Appeal a Claims Determination, and the payer's decision, if any.

All relevant medical records and billing records (HCFA 1500, UB92s).

All relevant correspondence between the health care provider and payer.

Although not required, a completed Consent to Representation in Appeals of Utilization Management Determinations and Authorization for Release of Medical Records in UM Appeals and Independent Arbitration of Claims (Consent) should be submitted if the party requesting arbitration wants medical records reviewed by the arbitrator.*

* While a (Consent) is not required for the PICPA process, a missing or incomplete member consent may impact the information available to the arbitrator from the medical record which, in turn, may affect the arbitrator's decision. The Consent form is available on-line at the Departments website atwww.state.nj.us/dobi/chap352/352consentform.doc

Once you have completed your application online you will be provided an arbitration Case ID Number. This Case ID Number must appear on all correspondence between you and MAXIMUS. If there is documentation that you are not able to submit electronically, then you may submit it, with the Case ID Number included, by regular mail, courier service, or by facsimile, to:

MAXIMUS, Inc.

Attn: New Jersey Provider Appeals

3750 Monroe Avenue, Suite 705

Pittsford, NY 14534

FAX: (585) 869-3388

Please limit each fax to 25 pages.

Fees and Payment

The application and arbitration process is composed of two parts, and there is a separate fee for each part of the process. The Initial Review determines whether your request qualifies for actual arbitration based on the information submitted. If the request qualifies, then the matter will go to arbitration for a decision on the case. However, to complete your application, you must send fees for both the Initial Review and the Arbitration.

Send two checks (or money orders) made payable to MAXIMUS at the address above. The separate checks should be made for amounts consistent with the following:

Initial Review Fee -- $70 for every claim submitted with a disputed amount of $1,000 or more OR $70 for every $1,000 in dispute for aggregated claims of less than $1,000 each.

Arbitration Fee -- $150 for every claim submitted with a disputed amount of $1,000 or more OR $150 for every $1,000 in dispute for aggregated claims of less than $1,000 each.

Alert:Your case may be disaggregated. MAXIMUS is permitted under the PICPA process to disaggregate cases when appropriate. Cases involving multiple lines of code and more than $2,000 may be disaggregated. You will be notified if your case is disaggregated. Please be aware that additional initial review fees and arbitration fees will be required if your case is disaggregated.

Initial Review and Arbitration Review

After receiving the health care provider's completed application, MAXIMUS will contact the payer for a response, documentation, and payment of its portion of the fees. MAXIMUS will review the application and all documentation, and will contact the parties as to whether the request has been accepted for arbitration.

In some cases, MAXIMUS may need to request additional information from the party initiating arbitration, the responding party, or both. MAXIMUS will make such requests to the appropriate party in writing, and the party will have ten days to respond with the requested information in writing. Health care providers will have the ability to respond to the request electronically via http://njpicpa.maximus.com, but payers will have to send the requested information by mail, courier or fax.

Reviews will be based solely on the submitted documentation. Reviews will be performed by independent and impartial health claims professionals with at least five years of claims processing experience. MAXIMUS will forward the written results of the Arbitration to the initiating party, responding party, and the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance within 30 (or 602) calendar days following receipt of the documentation necessary for making a decision.

2 Refer back to note 1 from the section on Eligibility and Timeliness of Claims for Arbitration

Questions If you have any problems completing your application or you have questions regarding the arbitration process and other administrative matters, please contact MAXIMUS via email at njpicpa@maximus.com, or by phone at (585) 348-3116. Please note that MAXIMUS will not accept verbal arguments for inclusion in the case record.